Come What May
by DominoTyler
Summary: Newly revived Sirius is determined to do whatever he can to make up for lost time, including taking on a dangerous mission he can't possibly complete on his own. But with the help of Hermione, he knows anything is possible. And he knows that, come what may, Hermione will always be there for him. SiriusXHermione story, as requested by Briallen Hunter. Romance, humor, adventure.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Moulin Rouge's song "Come What May," or any other recognisable material.**

**Hello! Well, here I was, wondering "Which of my many fanfics should I update? I'll check my email and maybe that will give me a sign." Well, I got my sign, as my story Chip Away the Stone received a review by Briallen Hunter, who asked, no, **_**demanded**_**, that I write **_**another**_** Sirius/Hermione story, because there are not enough good ones out there, and I was only too happy to oblige. I hope you like this one, which I'm making up as I go along, since I was like "Hm, I'll pick a song to go off of," and I got this beautiful song from Moulin Rouge. Enjoy! ^^**

**...**

**And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide**

**Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side**

**Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide**

**But I love you…**

**Until the end of time**

**(I love you) (Until the end "of time")**

**Come what may, come what may**

**I will love you until my dying day**

**Oh come what may, come what may**

**I will love you**

**I will love you**

_**Come What May – Moulin Rouge**_

**...**

_There's a lot of black here, isn't there? How much time has passed? Can I still hear screaming, or is that the ringing in my ears? How long has it been? It feels like years, but has it been minutes? I feel like I haven't felt a thing in a hundred years. Maybe I'm dead. What should I do? Am I falling? I do believe I'm falling. But I don't feel anything. Wait. What is that? I feel...warm. Something is soft. Something smells good. Something is there. Or...someone? Hopefully someone. I don't care anymore. If I'm dead, I'm dead. I'm just glad someone decided to - ugh! I think I just fell on something. And I'm getting very warm..._

Hermione sighed and kicked off her shoes, rolling her neck as she crossed the room. She tossed her shoes, purse and jacket into the closet by the door and dropped her keys onto the table by the closet.

"Hey, Hermione!" Harry called from the kitchen. "Hungry?"

"Not really; I had a big lunch," she replied, her eyes glued to the body on the couch.

Harry wandered into the living room with a bowl of a liquid he was furiously mixing.

"Any changes?" Hermione asked as she entered the kitchen, quickly followed by Harry.

Harry shook his head and watched as Hermione pulled out a glass and filled it half-way with the wine she had received for her birthday. "Nah. He's been talking, though. He keeps talking about something smelling nice."

Hermione rolled her eyes and crossed back into the living room, plopping into the recliner across from the couch and propping her feet up on the coffee table. She locked her eyes on the face of the man who had been sleeping peacefully for the past week without many signs of waking besides random muttering and the ability to eat and drink while unconscious.

They had pulled Sirius Black from the Veil, and were eagerly awaiting his coming alive once again.

Hermione sipped at her wine and flipped her hair away from her face. Resting her wine glass on the table, she threw her head back against the back of her chair and closed her eyes with a yawn.

"Busy day at work?"

Hermione glanced at the entrance to the bathroom, where her other roommate, Ronald Weasley, was standing with a towel around his waist and a toothbrush in his mouth.

Hermione smiled and nodded. "Hugely busy. I was on a huge goose chase across the entire _world_ today, trying to track down this guy. I ended up finding him in Canada! Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to apparate all of the way to Canada without splinching?"

Ron grimaced. "I'm just guessing, but a lot?"

Hermione just sighed loudly and shook her head, her eyes wide.

Ron chuckled and returned to the bathroom to spit out his toothpaste and rinse his mouth.

"I'm sorry about that. And to top it all off, there's an Order meeting tonight."

Hermione groaned. "I need caffeine. Does somebody want to come to the coffee shop with me?"

"I've got a ton of paperwork to do," Ron replied. "Sorry, 'Mione."

"Harry?" Hermione called as she retrieved her keys, shoes, jacket and purse once more.

"But I'm baking a cake!" He exclaimed.

Hermione shook her head. Ever since the end of the war, the only things he had to take his mind off of things were Ginny and baking. "Alright, then…. Anybody want anything?"

"Get me a cookie!" Ron called.

"Pick up some more eggs," Harry cried frantically.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Alright. See you guys in a bit."

She left as they said their goodbyes and headed out of the building, down onto the street.

The coffee shop that Hermione frequented, the Black Dragon, was owned by none other than Severus Snape, and was a part-time (secret) apothecary. Ginny worked the counter during the day and took lessons from Snape during the early morning, evening, and in between shifts, as one thing she really wanted to do was to own an apothecary. She was Snape's apprentice, aside from being a cashier.

Hermione entered the coffee shop, which had a considerable amount of business at the time, and headed for the counter. She knew that the population was about half-and-half – some people were wizards, some were muggles. Anyone talking about magic had their conversations changed to the ears of the muggles. Say Hermione was talking to Ginny about a Hippogriff or a baking spell. The muggles would hear this as her talking about a car or her washing machine, due to several spells Snape had placed on the building. Along with this, any bulletins meant for wizards could simply not be seen by muggles. It was really very helpful.

As she entered, Ginny came out of the back room frantically trying to flatten her hair and scrape a crusty purple substance from her face while asking if she could take someone's order. When she saw who was at the door, she grinned.

"Hermione!" she exclaimed. "I'll pay for whatever you order if you help me."

Hermione laughed as she dropped her purse onto the counter and pulled out her handkerchief. She dabbed her tongue and began to scrub at Ginny's face. "What are you brewing back there?"

Ginny shook her head. "It's a lollygag potion. It's supposed to make pain drag behind so you don't feel it for a while."

"You're tearing the leaves instead of chopping," Hermione said.

Ginny groaned. "But chopping takes so much time!"

"Would you rather take the time to chop or blow your head off?"

Ginny's eyes narrowed, but then she laughed. Then sighed. "Is it all gone?"

Hermione took a step back and examined Ginny's face. "Yep. You're all set."

"Great," Ginny replied, moving to the cash register. "What can I get for you?"

"I'll just have a coffee," she replied. "And Ron wants a cookie."

Ginny nodded, pressed a few buttons, wrote something down beside the cash register, and then turned around to begin making Hermione's coffee, just how she liked it.

"Here you are," Ginny said after a few moments, handing over the coffee and the cookie. Then she called over her shoulder, "I'm taking my leave, Professor - James is here for his shift. I'm taking the night off since we have a meeting tonight."

"You'd better be at the meeting or I'm docking your pay," was all they heard.

Ginny rolled her eyes and untied her apron, shoving it under the counter before she came around to Hermione's side.

"Need some company while you drink your coffee?" she asked as she plucked her jacket and scarf from the coat rack, slinging the purse she'd retrieved from beneath the counter over her shoulder.

"That would be great," Hermione replied. "I need to run to the store to pick up a few things. Would you like to come with?"

"Sure!" Ginny exclaimed.

The two left the coffee shop and entered the breezy streets of Lapham, a town that was mainly wizard, with the occasional muggle who passed through. They crossed the street and headed across the downtown to the grocery store, where Hermione began loading things into her basket.

"Anything new from Sirius?" Ginny asked as she pulled a bag of marshmallows from the shelf and slipped it into the cart – it was one of her favourite games to see if she could make Hermione accidentally buy something.

Hermione shook her head as she slipped the marshmallows back onto the shelf – she was never fooled – and replied: "Not really, but Harry said that he kept talking about smelling something nice, which is good, because that means he's sensing things now. Anyways, my day off is tomorrow, and I was planning on changing his environment - hot, cold, soft, hard - stuff like that - and see if he has any sort of - oh, hold on."

Hermione fished her cell phone from her pocket. The caller ID had the number of her flat, and she immediately opened it.

"Hello? Yes, Harry, what is it? Oh, we were just talking about -...he's_ what_? Er, ok, hold on a second and I'll be _right there_."

She hung up her phone and handed Ginny her basket.

"Please, Ginny, will you get some eggs and check out for me? I'll pay you back, pinkie swear, but I'm needed -"

"Hermione!" Ginny interrupted. She laughed. "Just _go."_

Hermione smiled appreciatively and dashed from the store. She ran down the street, unable to force herself to go fast enough. He was _awake! _And he could speak and eat and drink! Sure, he had no idea what was going on, but now they could explain and everything would be alright once again.

She was finally at the door when she realised that, in her haste, she had forgotten her purse, and, therefore, her keys, with Ginny. Groaning, she began to pound on the door as hard as she could.

"Harry, Ron!" she called. "Let me in!"

Harry cracked the door open and looked Hermione up and down. "Did you buy more eggs?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed past him. "Ginny's getting them! Now where is...he?"

Hermione's breath disappeared and her heart fluttered.

"Sirius," she whispered.

He blinked at Hermione. He squinted. "Did we win?"

**...**

**Hey! So here's chapter one. I have to go clean my fish tank so have fun reading this while I'm gone! Tell me if I should continue. It would make me very happy. ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione could barely contain herself. A smile spread wide across her face and she threw herself across the room, crashing into Sirius and pulling him into a rib crushing hug.

"Sirius!" she whispered, tears threatening to spill over.

He chuckled, low in his throat. "'Ello, dollface."

"I was sure you were dead," she whispered and he shifted. Hermione pulled back and sat down beside him on the couch. She shook her head and wiped a stray tear away. "I can't believe it. I…" She snorted softly. "I'm speechless."

"How do you think I feel?" Sirius asked. "I fall into a curtain during a battle and wake up on a mysterious couch…how much later?"

"About three years," Hermione replied quietly, and his eyes widened.

"That long?" he whispered.

Hermione nodded. "I'm so sorry. But I've done tons of research on the Veil, and apparently for every year spent in the Veil, you are given those years back if you return. You haven't aged a bit."

"I haven't?" he asked. "I'm still 34?"

Hermione nodded again, this time with a smile. "Yes. I know it's a lot to grasp, but doesn't that make it a little better?"

Sirius snorted. "Are you kidding?" Hermione flinched, expecting him to get angry, but he punched a fist into the air. "It's great! I'm so young! Whoop!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione laughed and Hermione felt the need to give Sirius yet another hug. She felt very attached to the man after caring for him for the past few weeks, and now that he could return her hugs was even better.

He inhaled, his nose buried in her hair. "Hermione…" he pulled back and shook his head. "What is that you're wearing in your hair?"

She pulled back. "Erm," she replied. "Soap?"

He shook his head, a strange look on his face. "No…scent?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Unscented?"

"Hm," he replied. "You smell wonderful. I remember that smell."

Hermione shrugged, blushing a light pink.

"Maybe you're smelling my cake," Harry replied proudly. "It just came out of the oven."

Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "You bake?"

Hermione sighed. "We've got _a lot _of explaining to do."

…

Their tale was done almost an hour later. Sirius's questions were finished. Well, almost.

"What does this have to do with cake?"

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "It's probably ready for frosting, and the Order members are going to be here any minute." He headed to the kitchen quick as a flash.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Baking and Ginny are the only things that keep his mind off of everything that happened."

"If Voldemort is gone…" Sirius said slowly. "Then what need do we have for the Order?"

"The Death Eaters that remain haven't backed down even a little since Voldemort was destroyed," Ron replied.

Hermione nodded. "They are still as intent as ever on ridding the world of muggleborns and to rule over muggles. Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy seem to be the leaders now."

Sirius's eyes clouded over in thought, and he tightened the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. This news did more than make him angry, Hermione could tell.

Just then, the floo started up and Remus Lupin walked in. And froze, his hand half-way through wiping powder from his shoulder, his eyes trained on the man, now awake, seated beside Hermione.

"Hello, Moony," Sirius said with a small smile.

Remus's reaction was very similar to Hermione's, minus the tears. He walked swiftly across the room, stumbling a little over the coffee table, before he finally reached the couch and sat on the other side of Sirius, pulling him into a forceful hug.

"Sirius," he said quietly.

"Yes, Moony?" Sirius replied happily.

"You're alive?"

"Very observant, Moony," Sirius said with a nod, patting his best friend's back. "You always were the smart one."

"And you're back to your usual self," Remus said, leaning back with the roll of his eyes. He placed a hand on Sirius's shoulder, his eyes, which had been dull for quite some time – he'd lost Tonks in the final battle –, seemed to be regaining their old twinkle. "It's good to have you back, buddy." He looked at Ron, then at Hermione. "Did you tell him everything?"

"About the war, yes," Hermione replied. "We left…some things out."

"What did you leave out?" Sirius asked, looking between the three. "What are you keeping from me?"

"Nothing," Hermione said quickly. She sighed. "We're not keeping anything from you. We just haven't told you yet."

"Well, tell me," Sirius replied. "I can handle it."

They then proceeded to list each and every death since Sirius had left them. They told him Remus had nearly been dead, as had Fred been, and Snape had so many medical problems from his snake-bite it was a wonder he could still move. He had to go around in a wheel-chair as it was.

They also let him know what the evil quartet was up to – that there was basically no ministry at the moment, and that they had several times nearly revealed the existence of wizards to muggles. That they had been trying to take over Hogwarts as a sort of fort, but the castle continued fighting back. McGonagall and Slughorn and Flitwick and every other teacher still capable of fighting had put up the strongest spells they knew how, and Hermione had invented several new ones in her very rare spare time that seemed to be holding the castle together and keeping out the Death Eaters – for now.

Sirius shook his head. "I've missed so much…" He made a face. "When's the last time I used the bathroom?"

Hermione laughed and made a face. "Er…three years ago?"

He stood up off of the couch and dropped his blanket, doing a strange dance.

Hermione burst into uproarious laughter, along with Ron and Remus. "Bathroom's right there," she said, pointing it out.

Sirius bolted for the bathroom, nearly knocking a large chocolate cake out of Harry's arms as he flew by. He slammed the door shut and they heard the click of the lock, and, a few moments later, the sound of him doing his business.

Hermione shook her head and watched as Harry placed the giant cake on the table, her mouth immediately watering.

"Mrs. Weasley is bringing supper over," Harry said. "But I think I'll just leave this here…it's nice to look at, isn't it?"

"I'd like to see it on a fork," Hermione replied, and Harry glared at her.

There was a knock at the door, and Ron moved across the room and glanced in the peephole. He pulled it open and Ginny walked in.

"What took you so long?" Hermione asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Ginny placed Hermione's keys on the table and her purse and other belongings in the closet, where she knew Hermione kept them. Then she handed Harry a bag of groceries.

"You bought me a new dress," Ginny replied with a grin. "It took me a while to find one that I liked."

Hermione glared at her. "How much did it cost?"

"One-fifty," Ginny replied nonchalantly.

Hermione was about to start screaming bloody-murder – she didn't have the money to just throw it around like that – but Ginny rolled her eyes and put up a hand to calm her. "Hey, you borrowed 100 from me last week, and the extra fifty can just go into the fact that – oh my gosh, is that…?"

She dropped her bag and purse along with her jaw, staring at the man who had just walked out of the bathroom, adjusting his belt.

"I'm going to need new clothes," Sirius said. "Pants are kinda baggy…"

"Sirius!" Ginny cried, throwing her arms into the air.

Sirius blinked. "Ginny!" He exclaimed, doing the same.

She ran over and crashed into his chest.

"Wow, I feel so loved today," Sirius said happily. "I should get stuck in a curtain for three years more often."

Hermione didn't even want to think about losing him again. Sure, Harry and Remus had showed most of the grieving last time, but Hermione was pretty good at concealing the way she felt. She'd formed an attachment to the charming black-haired man as well. They weren't the only one that loved him.

Hermione's eyes widened at the direction her thoughts were taking her in. She didn't love him.

Not yet, anyway.

People started coming through the door and the floo more frequently now, and Sirius received many more hugs before he resumed his seat in between Hermione and Remus. Hermione had to go get her Order notes and, in her absence, she was disappointed to find that Harry had taken her seat on one side of Sirius and Ginny had taken the only other spot, Remus's spot, as he had to stand to lead the meeting.

Hermione took a seat across the coffee table from Sirius on the floor, where she set up her note paper on the table. She set out a bottle of ink and readied her quill for their meeting to begin.

…

**Finally! An update! ^^**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try not to leave you hanging for such a long time anymore. **

**If you want to know when I'm going to update, if you want to know about other fanfictions or prompts, or if you want to message me, submit fanfiction or fanart, follow my tumblr! It's domino-tyler-fanfiction. Like I said, I post fanfiction, promote fanfiction, and post fanart! ^^ Plus, I post about my own stories on there.**

**Okay, bye! ^^**


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright," Remus began, nodding to Hermione to begin the note taking of that day's Order meeting. "When we halted last week, our assignments were to think of ways to strike the Death Eaters right in the heart. Before I go into details, did anybody have any ideas?"

Fred and George's hands shot into the air.

Remus smiled a small smile, as if he knew this answer was going to amuse him. He pointed at them. "Boys?"

"Okay," Fred said, "Picture this."

"We build a huge fire," George continued.

"Preferably at the site of the almost death of our dear Death Eaters –"

"And we throw floo powder on it –"

"And we all floo to Malfoy manner –"

"Where we –"

"Alright, boys, that's enough," said Mrs. Weasley with a glare. "There is no way that's going to work."

"And even if the idea of flooing through a bonfire were possible," Hermione added, "Malfoy Manor is surrounded by very strong magic. There's no way we could ever get inside."

"But a _really big fire –"_

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't care how big the fire is, Fred, it's not going to work."

Remus chuckled. "Any other ideas?"

He looked around at everybody. "Oh, come on," he said. "There has to be someone else who thought of a plan."

Still no one said anything.

That is, until Sirius raised a hand. "I don't exactly have a plan; but I just wanted everyone to know that I'm willing to partake in any mission you throw at me. I want to help."

Remus smiled softly. "That's very kind of you, Sirius." Then he turned to the others. "Alright, since no one has a plan, I will recount to you everything I have heard from my sources and maybe that will spark some ideas. The Death Eaters have created a travelling circus to use to attract Muggles. But at the end of their shows, they hypnotize the muggles into worshipping them and send them home brainwashed. I fear they may be planning to have the hypnotized Muggles go on a killing spree sometime in the future."

"That's terrible," Mrs. Weasley said, shaking her head. "Those poor families."

The others began to quietly chat amongst themselves as Hermione stared at the words she had just written. Then she looked up at Remus with a grin.

"I have a plan."

"Really?" he said, and everyone slowly ceased speaking. "What is it?"

"Ever since I was little, I've been fascinated by divination," she began.

Harry and Ron tried to protest, but she quickly shut them up.

"I only hated divination _class _because Professor Trelawney had absolutely no idea what she was talking about," she snapped. "Anyway, I've near mastered the art of palm-reading. I'm almost never wrong."

"So what's the plan?" Remus prodded.

Hermione grinned. "Well, it's a bit risky, but how about I assume some sort of disguise and use a fake name and I join their circus as a palm reader? I'll prove to them I'm worthy and loyal in any way I can, and then I will be able to tell you everything that is going on, and we can think of a way to strike."

"That's very dangerous, Hermione," Remus said, shaking his head.

"Spy work is no easy task," Snape added. "It took me years to get on the good sides of both Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort. And look where it all got me."

"I know," Hermione replied. "But I feel like I can help! I want to help."

"I'll go with her."

Everyone looked over at Sirius, who had spoken.

"You'll what?" Remus asked.

Sirius stood up with a grin. "I'll go with her," he repeated. "I want to help. I've missed out on three years I could have been helping. Everything could have gone differently if I hadn't fallen into the Veil. I may just be flattering myself, but the sentiment still holds – I think Hermione's plan is viable, and I want to go with her."

"But what will your talent be?" Hermione asked, always the voice of reason. "Don't get me wrong, I definitely want you to come along, but how will you convince them to let you stay?"

"I haven't got a talent that could be used by them…" he said slowly, "But I could pretend to simply be a friend of yours who wishes to help out. I could help pack up and be some sort of body guard or whatever. We could…I don't know…pretend to be married. Maybe that would convince them to let me stay."

Hermione's stomach erupted with butterflies and dropped in excitement. Her heart was fluttering and her face, she was sure, was a mask of calm, though on the inside, she was going insane.

"That could work…"

"Don't be insane!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. "That will never work! It's far too dangerous!"

"No –" Snape interrupted. "It could work. Like I said, spy work is very difficult, but Miss Granger…she's very clever. She's very talented. I think she could pull it off. As for Mr. Black, well…We'll see how it goes."

Sirius pretended to wipe a tear from his eyes. "That has to be one of the nicest things you've ever said to me, Snapey."

"Don't push it," Snape replied, bored.

"That's it, then," Remus said. "We'll get together, Hermione, Sirius and I, and we'll figure out a real, true plan. We'll figure out a very thorough backstory on your 'marriage,' we'll have to figure out how to contact this circus for you to inquire as to whether or not you will be allowed entrance, and then we'll have to get you there. I think it's supper time, am I correct, Mrs. Weasley?"

…

That night, after everyone left, Hermione turned to Sirius.

"Do you want to go back to Number 12?" she asked.

Sirius looked a little surprised that she had asked. "Actually, if you don't mind, I'd rather not be alone for a while…may I stay here?"

Hermione gave him a soft smile. "Of course you can. You can sleep in Harry and Ron's bedroom."

Sirius nodded. "Thanks, Granger." He stood up and headed in that direction. "You seem different from when I last saw you…A good different."

"Erm…thanks?" Hermione replied awkwardly, blushing. "I missed you, Sirius."

He smiled. "You, too, Granger. You, too."

…

**Chapter complete! FINALLY.**

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	4. Chapter 4

"So, what do you think?" Hermione asked when she had finished speaking. She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear and scanned her eyes over the letter, checking for spelling errors. "Sound evil enough?"

Harry snorted and shook his head. "You amaze me, Hermione. That's perfect. Don't change it."

Hermione grinned and gave Harry a tight hug before she moved to continue getting ready for work. "Thank you, Harry. Now, I'll just send this on my way to work!"

"You're not using your owl?" Harry asked as Hermione slid on her heels.

Hermione turned on him, eyes wide. "Of course not! I'm not sending poor Shirley into a pack of Death Eaters! That's like a death sentence! I'm sending it with that evil owl at the Order. I know it's tough enough to deal with them."

Hermione had stayed up late the night before with Remus, trying to figure out where the Death Eaters were currently camping out. When they'd finally found them, Hermione started immediately on writing up a letter asking for an interview, and had finished just in time for her to get an hour and a half of sleep.

Hermione slid on her jacket and was picking up her purse and her keys just as Sirius stumbled out of the bedroom, bleary-eyed and half-naked.

"It is amazing how one can still be tired after sleeping for so many years," he slurred, and Hermione grinned at him.

"They say the more sleep you get the more tired you'll actually be," she said. She rifled through her purse, making sure she had everything. "Now, are you sure you'll be okay here all by yourself today? I can stop home on my lunch and fix you something if you'd like – if not I'm sure we've got some form of leftovers in the kitchen – Mrs. Weasley leaves us with stuff all of the time. Or I could –"

"Hermione!" Sirius interrupted. He grinned. "I'll be fine. Go to work or you'll be late."

She grinned back and slipped out the door, headed for the Black Dragon, which contained her favourite Ministry entrance. Plus, she could pick up her tea on the way, see Ginny, and grab a newspaper, all in one place!

The walk to and from the Black Dragon were Hermione's favourite parts of the day. She had time to admire the ever-changing scenery, time to think and time all to herself. Today she decided, as she regarded the changing leaves on the trees scattered randomly about, to contemplate her very strange reaction to getting Sirius back the night before. She felt different, to be sure, but what kind of different she didn't really know. She was more than just happy that Sirius was awake – she was ecstatic! More happy than if she was just a friend. And she was supposed to be only a friend, especially because Sirius was her best friend's godfather and he was nearly 20 years older than her – old enough to be her father, albeit a young one! He was younger because of the effects of the Veil, but he was still very old, at least compared to herself, and she shouldn't have been thinking this way.

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed happily as the girl stepped through the door. Hermione had been so trapped in her thoughts that she jumped nearly a foot in the air and clasped her hands to her chest as if to prevent her heart from pounding right out of her.

The redhead only laughed. "Wow, Hermione," she said as she passed her friends coffee, muffin and newspaper across the counter. "What were you thinking so hard about?"

Hermione felt her face flush with heat as if she were still in her fourth year and Viktor Krum was asking her to the Yule ball all over again. "Oh, nothing of importance," she said, easily waving Ginny off. "I'm just a little tired. I was up late last night planning with Remus and Sirius."

"Lucky," Ginny muttered under her breath, and Hermione stopped on her way to the back room, where she would take a special train to the ministry.

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione asked, backing up so she was facing Ginny once more.

"I mean it's so lucky you get to hang around those two!" Ginny exclaimed. When she noticed Hermione didn't comprehend, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, _please, _Hermione. I know you're naïve but _come on. _They're two of the most attractive bachelor's the Wizarding world has to offer."

Hermione stared at Ginny like she was crazy. She looked around to make sure no wizards were listening in and leaned in close, just in case. _"Ginny!" _she hissed. "What are you saying? They're so much older than us!"

Ginny rolled her eyes again. "Hermione, does age really matter?"

Hermione stuttered a moment.

"No, of course it doesn't," Ginny answered for her. "And it's so totally obvious that the both of them think very highly of you. Why don't you take advantage of such a perfect opportunity?"

Hermione couldn't keep herself from flushing bright red once again, but she could keep Ginny from seeing. She shook her head and walked away. "Bye, Ginny."

"I saw how red your face got," Ginny called after her. "Remember what I said! This is a great opportunity, your mission with Sirius – don't screw it up!"

Hermione shook her head some more as she walked quickly with her head faced down, watching her shoes as they click-clacked against the wood floors. She kept going, stepping straight through the wall and into her very own cabin on the train that took her straight through the lobby of the ministry. A lot of people chose to travel this way, and Hermione found it a nice place to relax before work. Along with her walk to work, this was another part of her day that she looked forward to.

It was not as high up there with her walks, however, because of certain _other _passengers.

There were several people she came into contact with every day that tended to ruin her mood more often than not. There was Draco Malfoy, for instance. Rumour had it he'd made a complete 180 turn around and now he was on the straight and narrow, but just his face brought back hundreds of thousands of terrible memories that she wished she could just put away on a back shelf. Draco Malfoy prevented that.

Another person was Lavender Brown, Ron Weasley's current girlfriend and the girl who had caused Hermione's heart to break those few short years ago. Although Hermione was completely over Ron, it still hurt that he had, in the end, chosen Lavender over herself, and Lavender liked to rub it in with her chatter to Parvati Patil, another of the train's passengers, telling her all about the wonderful things she and her Won-Won, as she continued to call him, did the day before.

But along with the not-so-good passengers came the tolerable ones, such as Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas. Seamus rode the train a good ways past the ministry to the pub he owned in Diagon Alley. Dean Thomas was, in fact, quite a skilled artist, and he took the train to the pub with Seamus. It was just a job to pay the bills in between breaks from his muse.

Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. They both worked in a shop just outside of the ministry, and so took the train in the morning instead of apparating and causing a commotion. They were nice to say hello to every now and again, and Luna often had interesting news to share.

This morning, apparently, her news was very secret, as she wouldn't allow Neville, her fiancé, in on the word.

"I had a dream last night, Hermione, and I'm not quite sure what it means," she said, very serious. At least, as serious as Luna was able to be.

"Alright then," Hermione replied, deciding to humour her. She set her muffin beside her coffee and folded up her paper. Then she crossed her legs and folded her hands. "Shoot."

"I dreamt that I was flying," she began, "and that there were people all around me, calling my name and asking me strange questions. But the strange thing is that they were calling me Hermione."

Hermione nodded. "That is strange. Well, I do know that –"

"I'm not quite finished," Luna interrupted quickly, and Hermione motioned for her to continue. "Well, I don't remember a lot, but some parts were very clear. There was a dog, and I was very desperate to keep other people away from him, because I was afraid he might get hurt in some way. And I wasn't watching out for myself and I fell out of the sky, and the dog ran towards me as if to catch me, but before I hit the ground I woke up with a gasp."

Hermione smiled at her friend. "I hate it when that happens. Well, Luna, I would definitely say that dream qualifies as strange, but I'm sure it doesn't have and secret meaning. It's probably best to just forget about it."

Luna nodded. "I know. But I thought I'd tell you, since I was you in the dreams, and last night I tested out a very strange plant for Neville and it's used by diviners when they're getting ready for big cases. Well, have a nice day!"

Hermione continued to smile until Luna had left, at which point she unfolded her newspaper, uncrossed and re-crossed her legs, and picked up her muffin. It was time to get ready for another long day.

…

**Wow, I've been gone for a while…School, work, you know…**

**I'll try not to leave you guys hanging, though! I'll always be back! ^^**


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione stood up when the train had pulled into the station, folding her paper and sliding it into her purse. She tossed her muffin wrapper and her empty coffee cup into the trash on the way out and stepped into the ministry.  
Entering the ministry was always fun. It was bright and cheerful and the sound of shoes clicking along the marble floors was just so professional that it made Hermione's insides churn with a strange sort of happiness and contentment. She was where she wanted to be.

She was cheerfully greeted by many people as she made her way to the elevator.  
Hermione received a look of surprise from one of her good friends, Jack Mistletoe, as she pushed a different elevator button. "Owlry this morning?"  
She nodded. "Important Order business. Can't use my personal Owl."  
He raised his eyebrows. "Dangerous?"  
"Confidential," she replied, but she nodded, which was sort of difficult with the way the elevator was shoving them around the building.  
When she entered the Owlry her nose was immediately assaulted by the stench of thousands and thousands of Ministry owls. Hermione went straight for the back, for this awful owl that had pecked at her the year before and then had tried to murder Harry. Though it had been quite comical, patching up Harry's wounds and trying not to laugh so as to save her friendship was very difficult, and she did not appreciate her own injuries. So she was on bad terms with the owl. She quickly attached the letter before he could cause her any harm and basically threw him out the window.

"Be safe!" She called out with a smile, waving to him. It was a strange thing to do, she realized, and she turned around and walked away like she hadn't done anything so childish.  
Then she headed to her office and took a seat at her desk with a great exhalation as she prepared for the rest of the day.  
Hermione had quite a lot on her plate when it came to work - not only did she work for the Order, she also worked as the secretary for the head of the Improper Use of Magic Office, meaning that she did all the work and the Head, John Hallows, got all the credit. He even put his signature at the end of the letters she wrote to people improperly using magic, and she had to go on missions when someone broke the law. Hence yesterday, when she chased a law-breaker all the way to Canada.  
Basically, he got owls and told Hermione how to do her job.  
At least she got her nice office. She looked around the place. She really liked it here. It was very homey. And because she spent the majority of her time during the week here, it was a good thing it was a nice room to be in.  
"Knock knock!"  
Hermione turned to the door to see her assistant, Kimberly.  
"Hi, Kim," Hermione said with a smile. "Can I help you?"  
"I'm fairly certain I'm here to help you," Kim said, and then she grinned like a puppy awaiting its master's approval.  
Hermione returned an obligatory smile before she said, "Okay, then. What are you here for?"  
"Hallows dropped some stuff off for you on my desk," she replied. "Looks pretty important."  
Hermione sighed. "Bring it in."  
Kim grimaced. "Okay. Clear a spot for it."  
A moment later, Kim entered with nothing but her wand in her hand. She backed into the room, giving some space for the massive heap of papers she was levitating behind her.  
Hermione dropped her face onto her desk.  
"This is going to be a long day."

When Hermione returned home, she was prepared to simply drop into bed and fall asleep. After completing the giant stack of paperwork, Hermione had chased down seven different men who had done some pretty awful things to a muggle girl. She was working with the Auror's, though, so she had been with Harry and Ron. Luckily for them, however, they got to go straight home after the men were caught - Hermione had returned for more paperwork.  
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed when he heard the front door close.. "Come eat my pumpkin bars!"  
Hermione moaned. She hadn't eaten anything since her muffin that morning, but by now she was far too tired to even think about doing anything besides sleep. She dropped her purse, shoes and jacket in the closet and her keys on the coffee table, as she did every day.  
Ron chuckled. "You look like the walking dead, love. Long day again?"  
She moaned again and nodded. "I'm going to bed."  
He chuckled. "Alright. See you in the morning, then."  
Hermione yawned loudly as she entered her bedroom. She snapped on the lights and pulled her dress over her head. She yawned again and crawled into bed without putting in the effort to put on her pajamas. She was asleep in minutes.

Hermione was used to dreaming. She usually had several dreams that she could recall every night. She didn't like to read too much into them, because it was usually a fact that the parts of dreams you can remember mean absolutely nothing.  
But even while she was dreaming the dream she dreamt that night, she knew there was something going on.  
It started out with the loss of a few of her teeth. This terrified her, but everytime she tried to stop it, more and more teeth started to fall out for no apparent reason. But then it got worse - she turned to look behind her and found swarms of Death Eaters. The worst part - they were all dressed as clowns.  
She took off across the field she was standing in, but, frustratingly, her legs refused to move as she wanted them to. Another awful twist - the Death Eaters didn't seem to be affected by the immobility. Just as the first of them were catching up with her, however, Hermione jumped awake.  
It was so sudden that she screamed as she woke. She sat up in bed and looked all around the room, breathing heavily, sort of wondering what had woken her and sort of wondering what on earth she had just dreamed.  
She knew what these dreams meant - there were a lot of meanings that she could have pinpointed to any sort of thing going on in her life at the current time - but that wasn't important at the moment. What was important that something had woken her up.  
She listened for a few moments to see if she might hear something again. When she heard nothing, she shrugged and got out of bed to use the bathroom and get a glass of water.  
She thought she heard another sound when she was washing her hands, but she chalked it up to the pipes and shrugged it off.  
Then she headed to the kitchen, where she filled a glass of water. She began to drain it, finding herself impossibly thirsty.  
"Hello, Hermione," said a soft voice.  
Hermione began viciously choking. Her glass fell to the sink, creating a loud sound. She pounded on her chest and cleared her throat, trying to stop the hacking.  
Then she turned around, still spluttering a bit, to find a surprised Sirius. He had a shocked look upon his face, as if he had no idea what to do in the event of watching a friend choke, which he, evidently, did not.  
Hermione smiled and tried to speak through her light coughing. She pulled her dressing gown tightly around herself. She didn't have a tie for it - _of course - _and had nothing on beneath it but the underclothes she had gone to bed in the night before. _Of course._ "Hello, Sirius. What are you doing here? Did I wake you up?"  
He smiled back. "I should be asking you that. I've been up for about a half an hour now."  
"Maybe that was it," Hermione replied, shaking her head. "Or it could have been just my dream that woke me up." She shrugged. "Whatever."  
"Was it a nightmare?" he asked, walking into the kitchen and pulling out a chair for her to take a seat. "I heard a scream."  
She nodded and sat down with her newly filled cup. She sipped to try to ease her choking. "It was, actually. But I'll be alright. How about you?"  
"Hm?" he raised his eyebrows, looking as though she had pulled him out of a deep pondering of something indubitably important. "Oh, I wasn't having a nightmare."  
"No, I meant - what are you doing up?"  
"Oh." He looked away, back to the window over the sink, facing out to a small park across the street. It was a lovely view in the daytime, but the empty park was dreary and a bit frightening at night. It was an unhappy sight to see an empty park, void of people and children and the good feeling parks usually had to offer. At night, they seemed just ominous - not really the feeling you should get, but a feeling you got, anyways.  
Sirius shook his head. "I couldn't sleep. I guess I'm all sleeped out, eh?"  
Hermione smiled again. "I guess. Well, I have the day off tomorrow. I could stay up with you a while, if you'd like."  
His lips twitched. "That's okay; you should probably get some sleep. Ron and Harry have been really worried about you. And, to be quite frank, I am as well. You aren't sleeping well, Hermione, are you?"  
She shrugged. "I mean, I have been really focused on work lately, but I'm fine. Really, I am. I should be asking you if you're okay. Are you adjusting well? Do I need to start taking my lunch at home so I can check on you? Maybe I could -"  
Sirius clapped his hand over Hermione's rapidly moving mouth. "Hermione," he said, grinning. "Get some sleep. I'll still be here for you to dote on in the morning."

And he was. Hermione woke up at noon the next morning with a startled shock.  
_"Who turned off my alarm clock?"_ she demanded as she stormed out of her room, pulling on her jacket and shoes over the dress she wore yesterday.  
"Sorry, 'Mione, but you really needed the extra sleep," Ron said, flipping through the paper. "It was Sirius's idea so if you're on a murder spree, kill him."  
"Thanks old buddy, old pal," Sirius said, laughing over the cake Harry was serving him for lunch.  
"I would if I had the time," she growled, hastily tying her hair up. "But I've got to meet with someone in 5 minutes about taking over my job while I'm on my mission."  
"See you when you get back, then," Harry called. "And you still haven't tried my pumpkin bars!"  
Hermione slung her purse over her shoulder and slammed the door behind her without a reply.

Just a bit of filler, I suppose. Hope you liked it and please review and stuff if you like it and want me to continue continuing! ^^ Also be sure to check out my other stories if you like what you see.  
Ta ta! ^^


	6. Chapter 6

Hermione returned home about an hour later, starving but otherwise content. She quickly changed into something more comfortable and pulled open the refrigerator, revealing some leftover takeout from a few nights ago, along with Harry's pumpkin bars. She scarfed down two bars while waiting for her food to heat in the microwave and had sat down at the table, prepared to dig in, before she realized that the flat was empty and she was by herself.

She slowly set down her fork and stood, looking around the room. "Harry? Ron?" she checked their bedrooms. "Sirius?"

She examined the counter, searching for some type of note, but all she found was a tied up piece of parchment addressed to herself. It looked like it had seen some rough weather in its time.

Upon opening it, she found something she had been both hoping and fearing for.

Layla Nyx

We here at the circus have done extensive research on you and your husband and have found every word of what you've said to be the pure truth. Therefore, we accept your application and wish for you and your husband to come immediately to Rajani Circle, a community where our circus has been on show for several days now. We will be leaving at the end of the week, so if you wish to join us, come as soon as you can.

We're excited to meet you.

Yours,

Orfeo Hesperos, Ringmaster

Hermione jumped up and down excitedly. Their plan had worked! They were almost in!

She had to go find Sirius!

She put her shoes and jacket back on quickly and threw open the door to exit. Then she ran out onto the street and walked quickly to Black Dragon, the only place she could think of to look for in the area.

Her next stop would have been the burrow, but there was no need. Sirius was sitting happily at a table with Harry, Ron, and Oliver Wood.

"Guys!" Hermione exclaimed, pushing through the cafe to reach them. "I have wonderful news!"

She took a seat between Sirius and Oliver, giving Oliver a quick kiss on the cheek in greeting, as they'd become accustomed to doing recently.

"What is it, then?" Ron asked.

"Go on!" Harry said.

"We're in!" she said, whispering excitedly. She shook the letter in their faces. "They've accepted us into the circus! Or, should I say, they've accepted Layla and Vesper Nyx into the circus..."

Oliver laughed. "Aren't those book characters? From that terribly novel Flitwick wrote about really loyal Death Eaters?"

"The books never left Hogwarts," Hermione replied, "so they have no way of knowing that they're book characters. Anyways, it was easier to copy a backstory than make one up myself."

Harry looked up from reading the letter. "Says here they did extensive research on Layla and Vesper. Where'd they get the info from?"

"I made up fake birth and marriage certificates and had them graduate from Hogwarts. The characters are, luckily, younger than any of the current Death Eaters so they wouldn't be too suspicious. I've got everything worked out."

Oliver blew air from his lips. "Yeesh. Between this and working, it's no wonder I never see you anymore!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Maybe you never see me anymore because I can't take your constant flirting?"

Oliver laughed. Sirius was curious. But he said nothing and asked to read the letter. Hermione wondered at his change in attitude.

"I say we leave tomorrow morning," Hermione said. "I don't want to take the risk of them changing their minds."

Sirius nodded a put down the letter. "Got it. We'll pack up tonight."

Hermione nodded as well. "Are you sure you can handle this? Because I'm sure I could do just fine on my own -"

_"Hermione,_" Sirius interrupted. "I want to help. Now, let's get Vesper and Layla back home to pack and take a nap."

"And eat some pumpkin bars!" Harry added excitedly, throwing down money on the table to pay for everyone's drinks and they headed back to the flat, Oliver Wood coming along for free food and moral support.

...

**Super short but I promised the people who follow me on tumblr an update today and the day was quickly running out!**

**But summer vacation is coming up quickly! June 7th is my last day and if I'm not updating a lot by then, then I want all of you to send me constant evil messages until I start posting again! You hear me? ^^**

**Until then, review and I'll update when I can!**


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